ORONO — For the better part of 59 minutes Friday night, the Maine men’s hockey team’s offense was stagnant. The few shots on goal the Black Bears did generate in front of a sold-out crowd of 5,043 at Alfond Arena did nothing to test New Hampshire goalie Jared Whale, who barely had to break a sweat to protect the one-goal lead his teammates provided him early in the third period.

The Black Bears’ offense was stale, until finally it wasn’t.

Harrison Scott’s goal at 19:17 of the third period tied the game at 1-1, and after a scoreless overtime, Scott’s goal in the shootout gave the fifth-ranked Black Bears (18-5-5, 10-3-5 Hockey East) an extra point in the Hockey East standings. That shootout win pulled Maine into a tie for first place with Boston College, which fell to UMass, 3-2.

“We’re just getting outcompeted right now. We’re getting outcompeted by everyone we’re playing. It’s not sustainable hockey,” Maine coach Ben Barr said.

Maine finished with a season-low 18 shots, just one game after a season-low 20 shots in last Saturday’s 1-0 overtime win at Providence. When Scott scored, it was just Maine’s 13th shot. Minutes earlier, the Black Bears completed a power play that generated one shot.

“Obviously, we want to play better than that,” said defenseman David Breazeale, a captain. “We’ve got a target on our back and we’ve got to respond to that. Hold on to pucks, and be willing to go into the dirty areas to get them there. We’ve got to find that again.”

Breazeale assisted on Scott’s tying goal, firing a shot from the point.

“I was just trying to get it down to the net. We weren’t having much luck scoring, so chuck some pucks down there,” Breazeale said.

Parked in front of Whale, Scott got his stick blade off the ice to tip Breazeale’s pass into the net for the equalizer. It was Scott’s team-leading 16th goal of the season.

“I was kind of thinking I wanted to get off (the ice). My body was telling me I wanted to get off, but my mind was like, I’m staying on. I’ll find a way. Dave found me right in front,” he said. “The game’s not pretty. They’re not giving us much ice to work with. Right now, we’re having to grind for every inch. It’s hard right now. We’re fighting it a little bit.”

It was the kind of play Maine made often earlier in the season, but has become less frequent in recent games. To Barr, the recent offensive struggles are the result of not paying attention to the little details.

“It’s too much to finish your hit when you turn the puck over in the neutral zone. It’s easier just to go and loop away from it and hope it comes back to you and you get a breakaway, which we’re not going to get right now,” Barr said. “It’s easy to wait on the offensive side of the puck when the puck is going the other way, and hopefully they turn it over and you get a breakaway. It’s bad hockey.”

After the scoreless overtime, Sully Scholle and Scott scored in the shootout to give the Black Bears the extra point.

UNH (11-12-4, 3-11-3) took a 1-0 lead at 3:11 of the third period when Conor Lovett scored with three seconds left on a power play, skating in from the left circle and slipping a shot into the upper right corner of the net past Albin Boija (23 saves).

Prior to Scott’s goal in the final minute of regulation, Maine’s best scoring chance came at 14:10 of the second. Skating down the middle of the ice, Ross Mitton took a pass from Nolan Renwick along the left boards, but his shot went high above the net.

The Wildcats and Black Bears will be back at it Saturday night at Alfond Arena. Barr said the current struggles are reminiscent of struggles the team went through last season in February, when the Black Bears lost three straight games to Providence and UNH. This season, the Black Bears have been fortunate to find a way to come out of these games with points. Maine is 3-0-3 in its last six games, with three shootout wins, despite scoring only 13 goals in that span.

“The good news is, we’ve got a resilient bunch. Albin makes the saves he needs to make and keeps us in it,” Barr said.